State Commendation Award at the 18th Architect of the Year
Awards 2008 for Indian State Architecture Awards (ISAA)

Architects - Auroville, Pondicherry, India

Community housing, Transformation, Auroville

The Aim:

• This project will primarily provide for staff quarters for people(singles, couples, & families) working in the Cultural zone. But it could also consider Aurovilians who haven't been able to find housing elsewhere & are fully committed to work in Auroville.
• The Ideal (keeping in line with the spirit of Auroville), for a part of the project, would be to provide fully furnished simple apartments, so that people can pay only a general maintenance every month thus addressing the 'private ownership' trend that exists in Auroville today thus making housing affordable to people that do not have the resources. Money then would not be the criteria for allocating residence.
• The apartments on rent could be financed by donations & or finances allocated for staff quarters by the CIRHU/SAIIER grants or similar such channels. This will promote the ' no sense of presonal ownership', but a sense of sharing a collective asset of Auroville.

The first phase would provide a block of mixed housing( for approx 20-25 people) comprising of

• 4 family apartments (or shared singles with common kitchen & bathroom)
• 3 single person apartments.
• 3 two-person apartments.

& a part of the common facilities which include common laundry, office & internet facility, lockable & covered parking, store room etc.(depending on the funds available) The common waste water system too would be designed in a way that the it allows for the eventual 75 people & the present residences.

Random development in the existing communities is further stressing or depleting the poorly laid present infrastructure(eg: water, electricity etc.) Also there is no proper waste water system in the area. A properly planned neighbourhood/housing project would address all these & more issues while making an optimal landuse.